Drugs allegedly found during a raid on a St. George's guesthouse room were planted by Police officers, a defence lawyer alleged yesterday.

Llewellyn Peniston made the suggestion to Det. Sgt. Kevin Christopher while quizzing him about events at Aunt Nea's Inn early on the morning of June 1.

According to prosecutors, Robert Damon Green, 28, Sydney O'Neil Gibbons, 43, and Ronald O'Neal Beach, 33, operated out of a room at the premises.

The trio are charged with possession of cocaine and heroin with intent to supply, and possession of cocaine on June 1. Beach is also charged with possession of heroin with intent to supply.

According to Crown counsel Robert Welling at the opening of the case in Supreme Court, Police raided a room to find Gibbons on the bed, Beach on the couch and Green naked in the bathroom trying to escape from a small window.

In the room, officers found clothes strewn about, a melted ice cream packet, a red package of Skittles candies partially opened, pieces of garbage, plastic sandwich bags with the corners cut off and a Rizla packet. The prosecutor claimed that there were also regular plastic sandwich bags, scissors, drinking straws, bits of cardboard paper and two wooden stirring sticks. In the bathroom, he said, there was a pink packet of what appeared to be Skittles and two homemade cigarettes, one partially smoked.

The jury also heard that during the arrest, Green, of DeSilva Close, Pembroke, began to struggle with the officers after they assisted in clothing him and took the pink packet of Skittles and shoved them in his pants. When the officers were taking them out of the room, Green began to move around and the packet and $4,000 in cash fell out of his pants, it is alleged.

In the packet of Skittles were brown wrappings and white rocks that turned out to be 28.7 grams of the controlled drug crack cocaine worth $9,000 street value and 12.87 grams of the controlled drug heroin worth $9,000 street value, the court was told.

At the Police station while searching Beach, of Cottage Hill Road, Hamilton Parish, officers found brown wrappings in the tongue of one of his shoes which was 1.76 grams of heroin worth $1,500 on the streets. Crack cocaine residue was found on the scissors and sticks found in the guest room. The two homemade cigarettes also contained crack cocaine.

Mr. Welling told the court that although nothing was found on Gibbons, of Harlem Heights, Hamilton Parish, it did not mean he was not a part of the team.

During the case yesterday, Mr. Peniston, who represents Green, asked Det. Sgt. Christopher about that defendant's state of undress during the raid.

"Was he wearing boxers?" he asked, causing the officer to reply: "He was in nothing but his birthday suit."

The officer confirmed that Green was handcuffed with his hands behind his back and that he was present when another officer helped him to put some pants on.

In answer to further questions from Mr. Peniston, he said he had not seen any Scotch tape on Green's back.

He also confirmed that he did not have direct knowledge of the packet of drugs and cash that allegedly fell out of Green's pants — but that he saw these items on the floor after returning to the room having been absent from it due to feeling unwell.

Mr. Peniston also quizzed the detective over why photographs were not taken of the items at the time of the raid "so you could have provided some real evidence of the drugs and money you say were on the floor in situ."

Det. Sgt. Christopher agreed that this could have been done "but I didn't think that it was appropriate given the circumstances".

Mr. Peniston claimed that the reason this was not done was because other officers involved in the operation planted the drugs — asking the officer: "Did it come across your mind that these drugs could have been planted, given the condition you saw this defendant in originally, in his birthday suit?"

The detective replied: "I've had no reason to believe they were planted. In my experience with those officers, I've had no reason to suspect that those drugs were planted."

Rick Woolridge, who represents the other defendants, asked the officer about his knowledge of people under the influence of drugs or suffering withdrawal. He then asked if he recalled seeing Beach asleep during the raid. Det. Sgt. Christopher said he did not.

He also told the lawyer, in answer to further questions, that Beach did not look unwell when he was taken back to the Police station.

The trio denies the charges, and the case continues.